SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Dentists, parents and public health advocates rallied at the California Capitol this week, warning that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed $362 million reduction to Medi-Cal Dental would jeopardize preventive care for hundreds of thousands of low-income children across the state.
The “Hands Off Kids’ Health” Coalition, made up of dentists, families and advocates, gathered to oppose the governor’s proposed budget cuts to publicly funded dental care, urging lawmakers to reject the funding decrease because of its projected impact on low-income children.
“Dental problems don’t just cause pain—they interrupt learning, impact confidence, and widen achievement gaps,” said Dana Durham, chief of the Department of Health Care Services’ Medi-Cal Dental Services Division. “The good news is that most of these issues are preventable, and Medi-Cal covers regular dental care for children at no cost to families.”
Newsom’s January 2026 budget proposal eliminates $362 million from Medi-Cal Dental. Of that amount, $144 million is designated for dental services for low-income children, nearly 40% of the Medi-Cal Dental budget.
The child dental program represents only 0.041% of the state’s $350 billion annual budget. An additional $180 million in federally matched funding would also be lost as a result of the proposed reduction.
“Budgets reflect values. If protecting health care access for California’s most vulnerable children is truly a priority, then lawmakers should preserve funding for Medi-Cal Dental,” said Dr. George Mayweather, an orthodontist in the Sacramento area who has practiced for more than three decades.
According to the coalition, California already faces significant challenges in pediatric dental care. A 2020 report found that 14.8% of children ages 1 to 17 reported having a cavity or decaying teeth, ranking California third among states with the highest rates in the nation.
The coalition warns that the cuts would exacerbate existing problems. In 2022, only 47.6% of children enrolled in Medi-Cal used their dental benefits.
In many regions, provider shortages prevent children from accessing services, and 10 California counties have no Medi-Cal Dental providers at all.
“Cutting Medi-Cal Dental for kids is shortsighted and dangerous,” said Dr. Jeff Jacobson, a Sacramento-based dentist. “These reductions will force providers out of the system, leave children without preventive care, and push more families into emergency rooms. As a dentist, I want to keep caring for Medi-Cal kids, but the state has to make care feasible for providers.”
A study by the California Department of Public Health found that in 2022, 351,000 children ages 5 to 17 missed school because of dental problems. Eighty-seven percent of those children missed more than one day.
In total, nearly 870,000 school days were missed due to dental issues. Because public schools receive funding based on attendance, those absences cost school districts nearly $60 million.
Alongside the costs to schools, parents face escalating expenses if Medi-Cal Dental funding is reduced. Emergency dental services are often significantly more expensive, and parents may lose wages when they miss work to take their children to dental appointments or stay home when children miss school due to dental pain.
“Farmworkers feed California, yet too many of their children struggle to access basic dental care,” said Esther Flores of the California Farmworker Foundation. “Taking time off for an appointment can mean losing wages. Medi-Cal Dental helps ensure their children don’t live with preventable pain simply because their parents work in the fields.”
The coalition includes parents, dentists, public health advocates and school district employees who support the message that Medi-Cal Dental funding is essential for low-income families to receive adequate care.
Without the funding, coalition members argue, children will continue to miss school and experience poor dental health. They urge lawmakers not to balance the state budget by cutting funding for vulnerable children’s health care.
“When children walk into school holding their cheeks in pain, they can’t focus, and they fall behind,” said Estella Kessler, trustee for the Selma Unified School District. “Dental pain disrupts learning. We cannot allow preventable dental problems to stand in the way of a child’s education.”
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